Buffing mechanism for car-platforms.



0. T. WESTLAKE & G. P. FREDE.

BUFIING MECHANISM FOR GAR PLATFORMS APPLICATION FILED 11017.4, 1911.

1,050,188, Patented Jan.14,1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

M-r/vEssEs G. T. WESTLAKE & O. F. FREDE. BUFFING MECHANISM FOR GARPLATFORMS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4, 1911.

1,050,188, Patented Jan.14,1913.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

C) K I D v1 ENToRs CHHRLES T. Wash/awe? CHHRLES f-f' FREDE Unmans'raa asEATENT onrioa.

CHARLES T. WESTLAKE AND CHARLES F. FREDE, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI,ASSIGNQRS TO DOUBLE BODY BOLSTER COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, 1ACORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

BUFFING MECHANISM FOR CAR-PLATFORMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 14, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES T. EST- LAKE and CHARLES F. Fnnnn, citizensof the United States, residing at St. Louis, Missouri, have invented acertain new and useful Improvement in Bufiing Mechanism forCar-Platforms,- of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same. reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which-Figure l is a top plan view of a cast metal platform with portions ofthe buffer beam and end sill, and showing the butting mechanism inposition thereon. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken approximatelyon line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken on line 83of Fig, 1. Fig. 4 is a cross section taken on line 4.-1 of Fig. 1.

This invention relates generally to railway car platform construction,and more particularly to the butting mechanism applied to cast metalplatforms such as are now in general use in passenger car construction,and the principal objects of the invention are to construct the skeletonplatform and buffer beam so that a form of butting mechanism now in useon a number of passenger cars and of a type accepted by the M. C. B. canbe readily applied to the platform and buffer beam, and further, toprovide a construction wherein the operating parts of the butfingmechanism can be readily placed in or removed from position withoutdetaching the vestibule or the buffer from its, stems, therebypermitting the bailing mechanism to be easily and quickly repaired whenany of the operating parts have become broken or unfit for service.

With the above objects in View, our invention consists in certain novelfeatures of construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fullydescribed and claimed.

Referring in detail to the accompanying drawings: 1 designates the endsill of a cast metal car underframe of the type now in general use, andformed integral with and projecting forwardly therefrom is a skeletonplatform frame comprising vertically disposed webs 2 and horizontallydisposed perforated plates 3. The space between the central pair of webs2 is open inorder to receive parts of the center bufiing stem Thenumeral 8 designates the loufling member which is positioned immediatelyin front of the bufier beam 6, and positioned on top of said buflingmember is a plate 9 which is adapted to slide beneath the thresholdplate 7. The buffer 8 is carried by the for. ward ends of a pair of sidebufi'er stems 10,

and the central portion of said buffer bears against the forward end' ofa center bufier stem 11, and all of these buffer stems are arranged toslide freely through correspondmg openings 12 formed through the frontand rear walls of the buffer beam 6.

Formed integral with the front face'of the end sill'l immediately abovethe central pair of webs 2 is a pair of forwardly projecting lugs 13,and formed integral with the rear face of the buifer beam 6 above thecentral pair of webs 2 is a corresponding pair of lugs 14.

The numeral l5'-d esignates a pair of longitudinally extending rails orbars referably in the form of angles the ends 0 j which are rigidlyfixed in any suitable manner to the lugs 13 and 14. i

The numeral 16 designates a cross head which is arranged to slide freelythrough the space between the bars 15 and the upper portion of thecentral pair of webs 2, and bearing against the center of this crosshead on the frontside thereof is a block or head 17 which is connectedto the rear end of the center bufling stem 11. The ends of the-crosshead 16 are pivotally connected in any suitable manner to the rear endsof the side buifer'stems 10. Pivotally mounted on the central portion ofthe cross head 16 is a block 18 provided with guides 19 on its sideswhich bear against the inner edges of the rails 15 and the rear portionof this block extends rearwardly and is provided with a recessed head 20which receives the forward end of bufiing spring 21,

the opposite end of which is seated in the recess 5.

Under normal conditions the buffing spring 21 holds the buffer 8 at itsouter limit of movement, as shown in Fig. 1, and during the coupling oftwo cars the buffer 8 is moved inward toward the butter beam 6, and suchaction consequently moves the cross head 18 rearwardly beneath the bars15, and, as a result, compresses the spring 21.- The spring 21 thusyieldingly resists the inward movement of the buffer and buflingmechanism until said bufi'er has been moved to a. point where thecoupling of the cars is effected.

During the backward and forward movements of the various parts of thebuffing gear the block 18 is held in proper alinement by the guides .19which bear against the inner edges of the bars 15, and as the block 18is pivotally mounted on the cross head any swinging movement of saidcross head will not be transmitted to the sliding block 18. w l

The construction herein described is comparatively simple, and inasmuchas the skeleton platform is formed integral with the end sill and thebuffer beam, a very strong and rigid construction is provided upon whichto mount the movable parts of the butting mechanism. i

The butting mechanism can be easily and quickly placed in operativeposition upon the buffer beam and platform or removed therefrom withoutdetaching the vestibule or the buffer from its stems, and therefore saidconstruction is especially advantageous when it is necessary to makerepairs or to renew any parts which have become worn or broken inservice.

- It will be readily understood that minor changes in the size, form andconstruction of the various parts of our improved bufling mechanism canbe made and substituted for those herein shown and described withoutdeparting from the spirit of our invention, the scope of which is setforth in the appended claim.

We claim:

In a buffing mechanism of the class described, the combination with aone-piece integral structure comprising an end sill, a buffer beam, askeleton platform between said end sill and buffer beam, pairs of lugson the skeleton platform adjacent to the end sill and buffer beam, ofbufl'er stems operating through hearings in the buffer beam, a blockarranged for sliding movement on theskeleton platform and against whichthe rear ends of the bufier stems engage, which block is provided withvertically disposed shoulders, a spring interposed between the block andthe end sill, and bars overlying the block and engaging against theshoulders thereon, the ends ot which bars are rigidly fixed to the lugson the skeleton. platform.

In testimony whereof we hereunto afiix our signatures in the presence oftwo witnesses, this 28th day of October, 1911.

CHARLES T. \VESTLAKE. CHARLES F. FREDE.

Witnesses:

1 B. E. KUHL,

HAL C.-BELLV1LLE.

